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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-16 08:40:05 -05:00

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15. "al" & "del"

Source: video link

Spanish contracts the prepositions a and de with the masculine singular article el to avoid the redundant vowel sounds "a el" and "de el". These are the only two mandatory contractions in Spanish.

Key Rules

  • a + el → al ("to the" masculine).
  • de + el → del ("of the" / "from the" masculine).
  • The contraction is mandatory when the article el follows directly.
  • Do not contract with la, los, las, or with the pronoun él (he/him).
  • Capitalized El in proper names (e.g., El Salvador) is not contracted: "Voy a El Salvador."

Conjugation / Pattern Tables

Combination Contracted Meaning
a + el al to the (m. sing.)
a + la a la to the (f. sing.)
a + los a los to the (m. pl.)
a + las a las to the (f. pl.)
de + el del of/from the (m. sing.)
de + la de la of/from the (f. sing.)
de + los de los of/from the (m. pl.)
de + las de las of/from the (f. pl.)

Examples

Spanish English
Yo quiero ir al baño. I want to go to the bathroom.
Yo quiero ir a la clase. I want to go to the class.
Él es del mercado. He is from the market.
Él es de la clase. He is from the class.
¿Qué supones del mercado? What do you suppose of the market?
Vamos al parque. Let's go to the park.
Vengo del trabajo. I come from work.
Es el libro del profesor. It's the teacher's book.

Notes & Gotchas

  • Only el (the article) contracts. The pronoun él keeps its accent and stays separate: Es de él (It's his), Voy a él (I go toward him).
  • Proper nouns with capital "El" do not contract.
  • Feminine and plural articles never contract.